Ben Rinnes Twenty19 challenge is over
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THE Ben Rinnes Twenty19 challenge has been completed.
Two of the five charity walkers have completed 20 back to back ascents of Moray's highest peak in 48 hours.
Cameron Mackintosh and Peter Duggie overcame galeforce winds and driving rain on Sunday night and into the early hours of Monday morning to complete their gruelling 97-mile challenge.
Cameron, Gary Ewen, Peter, John Norman and John Mccruden had set off on Saturday morning to tackle the 2760 feet mountain.
Sadly, illness saw the two Johns drop out at different stages of the walk, leaving the other three going strong on Sunday morning.
Gary completed 16 ascents before he was forced to concede defeat after being hammered by the elements.
The charity effort looks like raising in excess of £20,000 for Logan's Fund, a Moray-based charity which operates UK-wide to support children with cancer and their families.
Cameron, chairman of the fund, said: "It was getting pretty tough by the end. I thought 16,17 and 18 were the toughest psychologically.
"The weather has thrown everything at us. We had gale force winds at the top on Sunday night and we had rain on the way up so it was a bit of a battle.
"The heat didn't really cause us too many problems on Saturday as we were pretty fresh. My biggest fears were rain which we got.
"It rained and we changed our clothes and then we set off again, and it rained again and when we came back down we changed our clothes, and then it rained again. Three times in a row we got hit with different rain storms and we were going through clothes.
"Luckily the people at the house down the road were drying my clothes for me. They took them away and dried them and took them back this morning, so I had fresh clothes.
"We got lightning storms as well. There were a few crackles on the hill but it moved over quite quickly."
"We have had headwinds coming down off the hill on to you, which has been difficult and just saps your energy."
Each leg of the challenge is in memory of a young person who lost their battle with the disease and got their "angel wings".
Many family members joined the climbers for the different legs, including Christopher and Angela Main, the parents of Logan, who set the fund up in his memory.
Cameron said the support from other walkers had been invaluable.
"There have been a few folk joined us and done walks with us. Two or three of the families have joined us.
"We have had amazing support, people coming and taking water up to the top for us, The Little Lunchbox in Elgin came and dropped off a huge buffet for us, other people have been turning up with food.
"The people down the road gave us access to their house for drying our clothes and changing our water if we needed it.
"People have been giving us donations on the hill, random people, so that has been brilliant."
John Norman started to feel unwell into the seventh ascent and after the eighth one he had to pull out.
John Mccruden was there until the early hours of Sunday but woke up exhausted and unable to continue.
"We have all piled in the hours but he was the guy who really trained so he will be devastated. We are gutted for both of them because it would have been good for everybody to finish it together."
Gary is a distillery warehouse supervisor and his employers, the Edrington Group, supported by the Robertson Trust, have pledged to triple the amount up to £5000.
http://everydayhero.co.uk/event/benrinnestwenty19
